Warrington Wolves u19 34 Hull FC u19 30

A DRAMATIC Academy under 19s encounter went the way of the Warrington Wolves as they narrowly edged out Hull FC at Wilderspool Stadium on Saturday.

Wolves had much the better of the first half, playing some outstanding rugby league to build up a healthy advantage.

But a very resilient Hull FC side hit back strongly after half time and run the Wolves very close in an absorbing game that had the large crowd enthralled throughout.

Wolves opened the scoring in the fourth minute, when scrum half Declan Patton found full back Jack Johnson linking into the line and he fed centre Toby King, who sped away and stepped round the Hull FC full back to score.

Fellow centre Harvey Livett converted.

Four minutes later a towering high kick from Patton was fumbled by Hull FC and that gave the Wolves a scrum on their opponents’ 20-metre line.

A lovely ball from French stand off Louis Jouffret found Johnson, who slipped through to score wide out on the right. Livett added the conversion.

Hull FC hit back midway through the half when a kick to the corner by loose forward Brad Fash saw winger Tom Stark react quickest to touchdown in right corner.

When the subsequent re-start went straight out of play, Hull FC took advantage when the ball was whipped out wide to winger Callum Lancaster, who scored in the left corner. Stand off Harry-Tyson Wilson converted from the touchline.

Wolves reasserted themselves just after the half hour mark, when substitute Sean Kenny managed to offload the ball close to the line and second row Joe Philbin scooped it up and wriggled out of a tackle to score. Livett converted.

Then winger Jake Eccleston collected the ball in his own in-goal area and broke the line on a 50-metre dash down the left wing before sending T. King racing away to extend their lead. Livett added the conversion.

On the stroke of half time a bullet pass from Patton cut out the Hull FC centre and gave King the chance to put Philbin over at the left of the posts. Livett again converted to make the half time score 30-10 to the hosts.

The second half started with both defences putting in some bone-crunching tackling to keep the scoreboard idle, but just before the hour a kick to the corner by Tyson-Wilson saw Lancaster collect superbly to score an unconverted try wide out on the left.

Five minutes later, Hull FC substitute Ross Osborne managed to round the cover close to the line and score at the side of the posts. Tyson-Wilson added the conversion to reduce the deficit to 10 points.

As the game reached the final 10 minutes the result was really put into the melting pot when the visitors scored a fantastic try.

Second row Jack Downs sprinted through a gap and raced 40 metres, before great hands by Tyson-Wilson and full back Josh Nicklin sent Lancaster over for a fine hat trick.

Tyson-Wilson converted to make the gap just four points.

Wolves’ nerves were calmed shortly afterwards when a monster cross-field kick on the last tackle by Patton saw Livett collect the ball superbly and brush off a defender to score in the right corner.

Hull FC had the final say a minute from time, when Nicklin collected a kick inside his own in-goal area and raced down the left wing to set up Lancaster’s fourth try, but it was too little, too late as the Wolves were left to celebrate a breathtaking 34-30 victory.

Wolves: Jack Johnson, David Johnston, Harvey Livett, Toby King, Jake Eccleston, Louis Jouffret, Declan Patton, Daniel Murray, Daniel Hirst, George King, Joe Philbin, Sam Wilde, Ryan Maneely. Subs: Sean Kenny, Alex Whalley, Robert Holroyd, Andy Philbin.